Red Dead Redemption 2 has been one of the most anticipated video game releases of 2018. On November 29th, the beta to its online mode finally opened up to the public. To put it short, Read Dead Online is easy to pick up and have fun with its unique story. You can live out your childhood dream of being a roughneck cowboy, exploring the untamed West. Red Dead Online starts you off by letting you fully customize your character. You choose your outfit, facial hair, age and even how your whistling sounds.

The world of Red Dead Online is huge and filled with countless activities. During your time exploring, you are able to do story missions which allows you to interact with characters from the single player campaign and introduces you to new ones as well. The story missions bring this world alive and make you feel as though your actions really affect this cowboy hellscape. Rockstar also added new game modes such as Horse Racing, Zone Capture, Team Deathmatch, and an interesting twist on Battle Royale called Make it Count.

The horse races are not your normal horse races. This game mode is very similar to Mario Kart. Players race against each other on horseback racing to smoke signals. The first person to reach all the smoke signals wins. Along the way, players can pick up weapons by riding over them, allowing them to blow away the competition (literally!).

Zone Capture and Team Deathmatch are your average game modes, but the atmosphere really adds to the experience. There is nothing quite like shooting your opponents in a tavern. However, just like in GTA Online, you bring your own weapons and ammo. This means higher leveled players will have an advantage over you in these game modes.

One game mode that provides you with weapons is called Name Your Weapon. It is very similar to Call of Duty’s  game mode Gun Game. In this game mode, you start off with a number of different weapons. However, the caveat is that each weapon awards the player a different amount of points. Harder to use weapons reward the player with more points while easier weapons such as the shotgun award less. Overall, this game was really enjoyable and gave everyone an even playing field.

All year, every game has had some sort of battle royal game mode available and Red Dead is no exception. It is called Make it Count, and the twist is you could only throw knives or use a bow and arrow to kill in one hit. The open rustic map of Red Dead really fits the battle royal theme. You get some really funny kills when you throw your knife at you opponents’ toes.

Red Dead Online is a fresh breath of air with all of its activities available to players. However, this doesn’t mean it is without its flaws. The games’ economy is downright broken. Everything is so expensive and missions and game modes only reward you with pennies! On top of that, many of the items can only be purchased with Red Dead Online’s premium currency, Gold Bars. As of right now you can’t buy gold bars. You are rewarded so little that you need to grind for days to get one gold bar. Many speculate gold bars will be added into the store to encourage players to purchase micro-transactions just like it is done in GTA Online.

Even with all this, Red Dead Online is a work of art. With its online narrative, huge world and wacky characters, you can be the greatest cowboy under the red dead sun!